1. Field of the Invention
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to image processing, and more particularly, to eliminating image noise to remove spatial-temporal noise and improve visibility.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, noise is inevitably added to a television (TV) image signal captured by a camera and transmitted over a channel during the capturing and the transmission. The noise degrades the quality of an image provided to a viewer and affects adversely image signal processing aiming to provide a high-quality image.
A method for eliminating such noise can be classified into a spatial noise elimination algorithm and a temporal noise elimination algorithm.
Because of using the stationary model of an image, the spatial noise elimination algorithm cannot preserve contours in a noise-eliminated image. A contour region spatially has high-frequency components. As a result, when the spatial noise elimination algorithm performs filtering to eliminate high-frequency noise, contours may be damaged during the elimination of the high-frequency noise, blurring details.
The temporal noise elimination algorithm temporally recognizes the characteristics of noise using image signals of a plurality of frames or separates noise from image signals using a change in the shape of an object or a temporal change in the image signals. In spite of its superiority in performance over the spatial noise elimination algorithm, the temporal noise elimination algorithm requires a large amount of computation in hardware and software implementation.